Customer Reviews
Buy Fodor's instead - By: Per Bjørnar Grande, 11 Jul 2007 
I have visited Istanbul around nine times & Izmir about seven. This guide will really take you to the wrong hotels & restaurants. The cultural guide is ok despite a rather boring layout, esp. maps. But the restaurant suggestions are disasterous: where do you find Istanbul's best gourmet, Corne d'Or, or the intellectual bastion Yakup 2, or the best chicken & mezesin Istanbul (Hanedan), or the nostalgic charm of Istanbul's 1930's belle epoque (Rejans)? Instead mediocre places are recommended which will give the dogmatic reader a mediocre holiday. Also, Lonely Planet does not mention the new hotelin Izmir (Crowne Plaza Izmir) which receives raving critics. Does it not know of it yet? And no mention of restaurants like Bonjour, British Grill & Pub, Colonial (at Hilton), only overprized fish restaurants. Is not this 2007 version only a lazy blueprint of the previous, I wonder?
I enjoyed travelling with this book as a Turk! - By: Kivanc Emiroglu, 27 Aug 2006 
My Canadian girlfriend & I spent 2 weeksin Turkey & travelled 3,000 km with Lonely Planetin our hands all the time.
As a Turk, it was a little bit weird for me to travel Turkey by reading from a foreign source. However, I really enjoyed reading the reviews & following their hotel & restaurant suggestions. I had difficultyin taking some of their comments but honestly they were right & with no prejudice. Their hotel & restaurant recommendations are limited but usually satisfying. The insight into Turkish culture was very helpful to my girlfriend. Most of the time, I felt like I had only little to add.
To sum up, very helpful insights into Turkish culture, good travel tips, detailed information about historical places & average information on hotels & restaurants. I recommend this book coupled with "Small hotels of Turkey - 2006" as a perfect guide for travellers.
Dissappointment, previous issue much was better - By: , 13 Mar 2001 
Yes, the book is very detailed & very useful. But the pictures are misleading. Lonely Planet has become orientalist. Turkey is not just beaches & peasants with headscarfs. Where are the normal people? Come on Pat Yale & Tom Broshanan, you both have livedin Turkey! Why there are no pictures of the young girlsin miniskirts & their boyfriends who together roam the streets of Istanbul, Trabzon, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Giresun, Bursa while talking to their cellulars & going to pubs at night?????
Maybe they look too "western" & normal to make it to the pages of LP! --- Even though these people are a majorityin Turkey where 60% population is under 30years!!!!!!!!
This time LP was a great dissappointment. It is not voicing the reality of Turkey, but the way foreigners (=rest of Europe) *wants* to see it. Shame on you Pat & Tom!
A useful guide for all travellers to Turkey - By: , 26 Feb 2001 
Kusadasi has amazing beaches , nightlife & excellent seafood restuarants. I would highly reccommend to my fellow travellers that it most definately should not be overlooked as a place to stay to either prepare your journey around Turkey, takein the many day drips it has to offer, such as Ephusus & Selcuk, Pammukale,The National Park or just to chill out & relax. Followed the good write up on "The Golden Bed Pension"in Kusadasi & may I add ,that not only is it suitable for all ages,couples,families & the solo female, it is a popular retreat for the gay travellers. It has terrific views of the sea from the rooms & the terrace bar, with nighly B.B.Q. & male & female belly-dancers. Kusadasi is more than just a Port for the weiry travellers from Samos & The Greek Islands embarking on the delights that Turkey offers.
the best guide to Turkey so far - By: , 15 Jun 2000 The book is very good but there are some misleading pieces of information.
On the facts for the visitor, Pat Yale advices a female traveler to ask for aile (/family) sectionsin restaurants. Well, there are not many of these restaurants &in fact, it sounds strange that a tourist would ask for such a place, like she would not see straight away how the restaurant is like.
The only places that are not "meant" for women are male dominated cafes, called "kirathanesi" where men play cards, smoke & drink. And you can see from the door right away that women are not extremely welcome to those places. Same applies to Greece & Cyprus.
